A Wizard's Disease
by Extraordinary-Wizard
Summary: Septimus Heap learns to deal with three things: the knowledge that his tutor is dating his sister's dad, the knowledge that said tutor may or may not be dying, and the knowledge that someone he cares about may not actually be how he thought her to be at all. A rewrite of my fic A Fight For Life, except very different and very much not the same.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everybody! I was previously Isadora the Whovian, and I am back, because I finally got a new laptop and inspiration to write again! Its been a long time since I last updated A Fight For Life, and I do apologize, but I wont be continuing it. It wasn't going in the direction I wanted it to go and so I've elected to rewrite it. Which is pretty much what this story is. But it is also very very different! The basic storyline is the same, but nothing else is. Its set when Jenna and Septimus are around 17-18, so therefore after Fyre and before Pathfinder. Marcia is still the Extraordinary Wizard in this story, and not married to Milo. I've slowed down the pace a lot so forgive me if its a little slow going! If something doesn't make sense or if I made any typos or grammatical errors please let me know so I can fix it! Its currently very late, my time, so I've probably accidentally skipped over something. Enjoy!

* * *

Milo stepped wearily off of his ship. Never, ever again would he spend three days on a ship with two teenagers. Well, he would one more time, because there was the return trip, but after that it was never happening again. No one, not even Marcia, could make him suffer through that a third time.

He really needed to learn how to say no to her, he realized with a frown. It was her fault that he had even agreed to ferry around the Queen and the Extraordinary Apprentice in the first place. Three days of the two of them teaming up against him, combined with teenage angst and sibling drama—it wasn't (and never had been) on his bucket list. Ah, well. He had all day to be without them. That made it a little bearable, at least. Jenna and Septimus were currently sitting with the young prince who ruled over this kingdom for some kind of diplomatic meeting. Milo, for obvious reasons, wasn't allowed to attend. He figured it was for some kind of trade agreement, and hoped that he was right. If he was, his merchant life would be made a little easier. The kingdom was closer and from the looks of it, sold items that he knew would sell at high prices in the Castle.

Hmm. Now there was something he could do. He could explore the trade markets and local bazaars, get a better look at what the people here sold instead of just a passing glance. Maybe he'd find something he could buy for Jenna, and Marcia too.

Before Milo set on his way, he turned back to his ship. "I'll be back in a little while!" he shouted up to his men. A chorus of affirmative replies echoed down to him.

* * *

Septimus, unfortunately, did not get to explore the kingdom like he knew Milo to be doing. He was instead stuck in a very boring meeting with his very bossy sister and a very annoying eleven-year-old prince named Harry. He wasn't even supposed to come with Jenna. The prince had requested the Queen and the _Extraordinary Wizard_ meet with him. Not the Extraordinary Apprentice. He was supposed to be in the Forest camping with Beetle right now, not sitting at a table with his sister and an eleven-year-old. But Jenna did not want to be stuck on a ship with both Marcia and Milo, and Marcia did not want to be stuck with Jenna and an eleven-year-old in what was, in her words, a meeting not worth her time. The obvious compromise was that he go in her place.

It was so unfair. Marcia was probably reading a book right now or buying a new pair of shoes and Beetle was probably camping with someone else. That someone else was probably Foxy, too. Foxy just had to take everything from him, didn't he? He took his girlfriend and most likely his camping trip with his best friend.

Septimus was content to sit there and sulk while completely ignoring the details of the meeting, but Jenna elbowed him discreetly. "Stop sulking," she whispered while Prince Harry's advisor was explaining something to him.

"I'm not sulking," he whispered back in a way that confirmed he was sulking.

Jenna was sympathetic, for she too wasn't really enjoying the meeting. She did, however, find Prince Harry to be adorable so it wasn't too bad. "It's almost over," she told him reassuringly. "We just have to agree on terms and sign a paper. Easy."

"I'm not supposed to sign the paper," he complained. "Marcia's supposed to sign it."

She rolled her eyes. "You're standing in for her," she reminded him. "It's perfectly okay for you to sign it." Then, seeing that Prince Harry was waiting on her, she said, "You agree to our terms, then?"

He nodded, smiling cutely. "The Kingdom of Chiel agrees to the terms set out by the Kingdom of—" he hesitated and turned to his advisor. "How do you pronounce it again?"

The advisor bent down to whisper the correct pronunciation into his ear and Jenna looked over to Septimus. "Isn't he cute?" she mouthed.

It was his turn to roll his eyes. He didn't understand how anyone could find eleven-year-old boys—especially eleven-year-old royal boys—cute. He decided to fully tune out the rest of the meeting, and it wasn't until he had signed the paper agreeing to whatever it was Jenna and the prince had agreed on and they were leaving the palace that he even spoke.

"Marcia owes me," he grumbled as they stepped outside on to very green grass. He felt like taking off his shoes and running through it. It would improve his day considerably.

Jenna ignored him and pulled on his arm, making him keep walking. "Now we just have to go back to the ship and go home," she told him.

He kicked at a rock since he couldn't do anything he wanted to do. "Milo's probably on the other side of the kingdom," he muttered under his breath.

Jenna ignored that too.

* * *

Surprisingly, Milo was not on the other side of the kingdom. He had found a bazaar quite close to the Quay and was browsing through it. He'd been there for hours already, but he assumed that Septimus and Jenna would find him when they were ready to leave, for he wasn't in a hurry just yet. The bazaar was, actually, very entertaining and interesting. He tried local delicacies that reminded him of the country he grew up in and turned down local delicacies that reminded him a little too much of his time in the hold of a pirate ship. He even found a book stall, and though he wasn't much of a reader, he figured that Marcia would enjoy the book he'd picked out for her. After all, the vendor had assured him it was from the Before Time and she loved books from the Before Time. This particular book even had the name Sherlock Holmes in the title. She'd gone on very excited rants about a Sherlock Holmes character in the past, so there was no way she wouldn't like it, right? He hoped that at the very least she'd appreciate that he'd thought of her.

Walking down the streets of the Bazaar, however, had its disadvantages. Vendors liked to call out to people, and Milo didn't really know how to turn them down. It was how he had found himself in his current situation. An elderly woman had called out to him in a language he hadn't heard or really spoken in years and he had answered her without a second thought. She immediately had grabbed his arm and pulled him over to her stall, forcing him to sit in an uncomfortable chair. Now he watched her as she gathered a few items and set them down on the table in front of him, feeling more than a little apprehensive. She was a fortune teller type, and he didn't believe in that sort of thing at all. The problem was he didn't know how to politely tell her he wasn't interested.

The elderly woman sat down across from him and held out her hands. Hesitantly, he placed his hands in hers. "Uh, Ma'am— "

She shushed him and stared intently at his hands. After a few very awkward and uncomfortable moments, she spoke in the lyrical language he remembered so well. "Your wife is dying," she told him bluntly.

His good mood that he'd had ever since Septimus and Jenna had stepped off of his ship that morning immediately soured. "My wife is already dead," he replied, his tone void of any emotion. He removed his hands from hers, finding that it was easier to do so when he had no room in his head for any thoughts of kindness. Fortune Tellers, in his opinion, tried too hard to guess the future and when they only restated and reminded him of his past, his disdain for them only grew. He hated being reminded of Cerys's death, and how he had inadvertently abandoned his daughter for eleven years.

He was ready to leave the bazaar now, he decided. The sooner he could distract himself from imagining Cerys's death (made easier by seeing her ghost and hearing Marcia's detailed description of the events of that night) the better.

The elderly woman stood when he did. "I'm not finished!" she protested.

He didn't bother to respond and instead stormed away.

He tried to push the thoughts out of his head by thinking of Marcia. He only thought of her witnessing two murders and leaving his daughter in the snow. He tried thinking of his ship and the ocean. That didn't work either. His ship was named after Cerys and the ocean served as a reminder that he had left instead of checking with someone, anyone, to confirm the events of that night.

He needed a drink, he decided next. Maybe two.


	2. Chapter 2

Next chapter! This ones up a lot quicker than most chapters will be uploaded, mainly because I upload after I work on it and am satisfied with it. Also, I have more free time than I should lately. In coming weeks, don't expect quick updates! I'm preparing for graduation and college currently, so eventually that'll take up a lot of my time. I do, however, have plans to finish this! Let me know if it seems a little out of character. I'm super self critical and sometimes when my work is good, I still think its awful. If this chapter is a little ooc or doesn't flow correctly, let me know and I'll fix it! Enjoy!

* * *

Septimus was still sulking and Jenna was teasing him for it when Milo arrived back at the ship. Jenna was going to greet him, but then saw that he'd gone all stony-faced and had a "don't talk to me" look in his eyes. He walked right by them, and a member of his crew began giving the orders he would normally be giving. She was about to question Septimus about it but he wasn't always the most observant and he was so focused on pouting (now he was complaining about how hungry he was) that he probably hadn't even noticed. She turned to the crewmate closest her instead. Jeremy, his name was, if she remembered correctly.

"What's up with him?" She asked, jerking her thumb in the direction Milo had gone.

"When he gets that way we leave him alone," Jeremy explained, setting down the basket of fruit he was carrying. Septimus brightened when he saw the fruit and grabbed one. Jeremy either didn't notice, or he pretended not to notice.

 _That wasn't what I asked_ , Jenna thought. "No, why does he get that way," she clarified.

Jeremy suddenly seemed like he felt he had better things to be doing and hesitated before answering her. "All stony-faced and angry?"

She nodded.

"When he's reminded of his past."

Jenna could figure out the rest. Well, she thought she could. She didn't exactly know him that well. He got weird when Cerys was around or whenever she was brought up. Maybe that's why he had elected to ignore everyone. "Hey, Septimus?" she said as Jeremy walked away, taking the fruit with him.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to go and talk to Milo."

"Whatever," he replied, his mouth full and juice dribbling down his chin.

She rolled her eyes as she left, but Septimus didn't care. It was something she did often.

* * *

A three days' journey away, Marcia Overstrand was sitting on a purple sofa that was, thankfully, still Jinnee and ghost free. The last three days without Septimus and Jenna around had been wonderful, excluding yesterday when she had helped Dandra with a rather sick patient who they had managed to cure by the end of the night. She didn't have the extra trouble that Septimus dragged about with him to deal with, she didn't have lessons to teach, and she didn't have Jenna bothering her with her wretched book and its tiddly-squiddly type. She had a lot of free time, something she was glad to have, and was currently spending it by reading a book of her own by the fire.

It was a lot better than sitting in a meeting with an eleven-year-old, and she had no pressing matters she had to deal with. She did, however, have to deal with Sarah Heap, who'd been visiting two or three times a day to see if she'd heard anything from Jenna and Septimus. Marcia could work through that in an almost polite way. Though she had snapped at Sarah yesterday and told her they'd be back in a few days and she'd know then.

Hmm. Maybe that's why Sarah hadn't visited today. Not that she cared, of course. The fewer Heaps that disrupted her day (because they all had a habit of ruining it) the better.

Marcia took another sip of her coffee, grabbed the fuzzy blanket off the back of the sofa, and turned the page in her book. Maybe she'd go out for dinner later, she thought to herself.

* * *

Once again, Alther misjudged his landing and fell through the canopy of Marcia's four poster bed. He really needed to work on that, he thought grimly. It wasn't very gallant, and sometimes he startled her to the point where she threw something at him and it **Passed Through** him.

This time. instead of sitting up in a fright, she only groaned into her pillow. Alther needed to stop waking her up in the mornings. "It's too early," she complained.

He collected himself quickly and gave her an odd look. It was nearly ten in the morning? "Since when do you sleep in?" he asked.

"Since I stayed up late reading and had no reason to get up."

"You do have a reason to get up," he reminded her.

She lifted her head and squinted in his direction, only able to see part of his ghostly figure without her glasses. "I do?"

He nodded. "They return today."

For a moment, she just looked at him. Then she sat up and sighed. "Vacation's over, then," she said sadly as she pushed her blankets off of her and got out of bed.

Alther chuckled, thoroughly amused by Marcia like he always was and always had been. "It hardly counts as a vacation," he replied. He watched her slip on her purple rabbit slippers and tie her robe around her waist. "You didn't even leave the Wizard Tower."

"Yes I did," she retorted. "I left for dinner two days ago."

"You were gone twenty minutes," he reminded her.

"That's because Silas Heap decided to eat dinner with me and I decided I had better things to be doing," she said defensively. She snapped her fingers and her hair comb came speeding toward her from her dresser. She caught it, yawned, then walked over to her mirror. When she sat down, a nearby chair came rushing to catch her. "It does count as a vacation, Alther."

He smiled to himself as she began to comb through her unruly dark curls. She definitely still amused him.

* * *

Marcia started out what remained of her morning in the port by claiming the small table not too far away from the Quay, content to sit there and read while drinking a small cup of coffee and enjoying a croissant. When her coffee was gone and her croissant almost gone, she could spot _The Cerys_ on the horizon.

She slowly set aside her book, got up, and stood under the shade of the oak tree that was closer to the Quay. Some of the people in the Port were talking about her, but she ignored them like she always did. What she was doing wasn't any of their business anyway. She waited, patiently, as the ship anchored down and waited to see who would be the first to exit the ship.

The greeting Marcia was expecting to get was not what she received.

Septimus came rushing off the ship first, looking so relieved to be on solid ground again, but also really tired. When he saw her, he pointed to her. "You owe me!" he told her tetchily.

She frowned and started walking toward him. Did she not deserve a hello? "Why do I owe you?" she asked, a little confused.

"You made me stay on a ship with—with Jenna _and_ Milo," he replied. "Don't ever make me do that ever, ever again," he continued as he headed over to her. "I'd rather eat your cooking."

She narrowed her eyes at that comment but didn't get the chance to respond because at that moment, Jenna appeared. She clutched her skirts angrily as she stormed off the ship, a scowl upon her face. Septimus quickly jumped behind Marcia in an effort to stay out of her way. Jenna, however, didn't greet them or say anything at all. She didn't even glance in their direction as she passed them.

"What happened?" Marcia asked immediately, looking down at him.

Septimus peered around her, avoiding eye contact. "Seven days on a ship together is really awful," he explained cautiously. "Things get intense."

"Septimus, you could have **Transported** back to the Wizard Tower any time."

He glanced up at her then, a blank expression on his face. "What?"

She gave him an exasperated look. Had he seriously forgotten he could use **Magyk**? "I only said you had to go to the meeting. I never said you had to spend the entire time on a ship," she reminded him.

Well. He felt stupid. That hadn't even occurred to him.

Milo came into view before Septimus could defend himself, looking exhausted and irritated. But that wasn't all that was wrong with him. There was something else on his mind. Marcia could tell.

She waited until Milo was closer to them before addressing him. "How was the trip?" she asked, hoping to at least get some kind of answer from him.

Unlike Jenna, Milo at least looked at them. "Later," he told her wearily as he passed.

Marcia and Septimus watched him go in the direction Jenna had gone. The carriage ride back to the Castle was going to be wonderful, Marcia thought sourly. "Tensions were running high?" she guessed.

Her apprentice nodded his head rapidly in agreement.

She sighed. Her little vacation was definitely over.


End file.
